Taiwan Blows Past Forecasts With Economic Growth at 39-Year High

Shipping containers are seen at the port in Keelung,Taiwan.

Photographer: I-Hwa Cheng/AFP/Getty Images

Taiwan’s economy grew at its fastest since 1987, overcoming disruptions caused by the war in Iran as the island continues to ride demand for its tech products supporting the build-out of artificial intelligence computing.

Gross domestic product expanded almost 13.7% in the first quarter from a year earlier, compared with about 12.7% in the previous three months, according to a statement by the statistics bureau in Taipei on Thursday. That exceeded all estimates in a Bloomberg survey of economists, whose median was for a slowdown to 11.3%.